CSUN Students Learn From the Children at Acclaimed Day-Care Lab

On the campus of Cal State Northridge, inside two neatly kept bungalows, 5-year-old Brian’s enthusiasm for planting seeds will one day make a nice thesis paper. At the same time, the interaction between 4-year-olds Tania and Lisa taking turns using a drawing board will be ample material for an upcoming report.

This is standard practice for those involved with the CSUN Preschool Laboratory, a university-sponsored day-care facility that serves as a classroom for college students and a state-of-the-art program for children 2 to 5 years old.

“The children have the benefit of being supervised by adults who are not only very enthusiastic, but also have access to the newest and most creative curriculum around,” said Director Sandy Rifkin, who has worked at the school since its inception 27 years ago. “It is a wonderful setting for everyone involved.”

No one likes the program more than the children who attend it, Rifkin said.

On a recent weekday morning in the bungalow that houses the part-time students, each of 12 children in the room were happily involved in one of a variety of non-conventional activities. At a small table, four children 3 and 4 years old sat around a tub of soil learning how to plant wheat seeds.

In another corner, two children were painting on a full-size canvas easel lowered several feet. In the back of the room, a university student worked with other children on a model wild-animal park complete with animal replicas and an automobile track winding through the different animal areas.

These activities, while stimulating and fun for the children, are not entirely different from those of commercial day-care centers, Rifkin said.

The difference is in the ratio of adults to children. On this day, like others, the ratio at the Preschool Laboratory is five children to one adult. Some preschools in the San Fernando Valley have a ratio as high as 12 to 1, according to Rifkin.

“I think this is the neatest place of all,” 5-year-old Brian said as he patted the final handful of dirt onto his wheat seeds. “I’m going to stay here forever. Or at least till my mom comes and gets me!”

When the CSUN Preschool Laboratory opened in 1964, there was just one bungalow-classroom and only 12 children in the entire part-time program, Rifkin said.

Until the late 1970s, most of the campuses throughout the California State University system had preschool laboratories, according to Colleen Bentley-Adler of the chancellor’s office.

“Today, less than half the universities have this sort of educational tool,” she said. “Preschool labs have been disappearing because of budget cuts.”

Five years ago, CSUN’s lab began a full-time program and doubled its space. Because of revenue from the new program, the Northridge preschool is not in danger of being closed, Rifkin said. However, about 30% of the program’s funds come from the university, and there is always a possibility that it will be cut later, she said.

“Those of us working in professional commercial preschools sincerely hope that they keep the CSUN lab open,” said Lora True, principal of Pinecrest Schools in Northridge. “I have spent time observing the operation at the preschool lab, and it is a very high-quality training ground for teachers. It is also obvious that the children receive top-notch attention and care.”

True said Pinecrest Schools prefers hiring teachers who have had experience and training at the CSUN lab.

“The experience they get in a laboratory like CSUN’s is so important,” True said. “They are actually learning how to interact with children. Those are the kinds of teachers we need in this field.”

The lab has room for 40 children between the two bungalows, one of which is for children who attend full-time and the other for those who attend part-time. In addition, the preschool lab offers a weekly one-hour parent-infant class and a parent-toddler class that is two hours. Both are $115 for 14 sessions.

There is a six-month waiting list for enrollment at the preschool lab, Rifkin said.

Parents who enroll their children at the center either live nearby, hear about it from someone else or, like Alice McCay Cooper, seek out a university-run program.

When it came time to place 3-year-old Caroline in a preschool program, Cooper was willing to drive out of her way for a university-affiliated center.

“I knew it would be an enlightened program with far better quality instruction than a commercial day-care program,” said Cooper, who lives in Palmdale and owns a business in West Los Angeles. “I have to drive out of my way to bring her here, but it is worth it for many reasons.”

Deana Hendrickson of Northridge also contacted CSUN hoping to find a preschool lab for her children, Lisa, 4, and David, 3.

“I expected it to be the greatest program around because the children would have the newest ideas and programs. I also expected the adults to be more than enthusiastic,” Hendrickson said. “This program has met all my expectations and then some.”

CSUN’s preschool lab is designed to meet the needs of a variety of college students. The program’s three lead teachers are former graduate students who are considered CSUN faculty members. Other assistant teachers and teacher aides are generally seniors or graduate students whose focus of study is child development.

However, students from fields such as physical therapy, physical education and language arts also use the lab for observation. All children’s lunches are prepared by students studying nutrition and home economics.

“There are students from all kinds of departments who come over and observe our preschoolers,” Rifkin said. “We have the perfect setup for it so that it doesn’t ever disturb the children.”

The observation rooms--one for each bungalow--are behind one-way glass so children are unaware that they are being observed. Each room is equipped with 12 chairs and six headphone sets so college students may listen in on the children’s dialogue.

“This gives the university students a perfect transition between their school years and the time when they will actually go out into the world as a child-care provider or other professional,” CSUN spokeswoman Ann Salisbury said. “The students are all screened like they would be at any day-care facility before they can work with the children. It is a very professional arrangement.”

In addition, the observation rooms give parents an opportunity to watch their children at play without being noticed, Rifkin said. At most preschools, the moment a parent walks through the door, the child stops playing and runs to greet him or her.

“Sometimes I’ll spend an hour or more just watching my daughter play,” Cooper said. “I really enjoy seeing her grow and make friends without her knowing I’m watching.”

Some students such as Lon Brown, a junior in physical therapy, are required to spend time helping in the classroom as well as observing children. Brown, like others who work with the children, had to fill out an extensive background application that is required to be on file at the preschool lab.

“This is a required class, spending three hours a week around these children,” Brown said. “The idea is that physical therapists need to know about the activities of all people, including children.”

Barbara Rigney, a full-time lead teacher in the program, said having so many different college students earning units at the center helps the children get used to a variety of people at an earlier age.

“It gets so that the kids expect there to always be someone new starting out with the program,” said Rigney, who started working in the preschool lab in 1984 when she was still earning graduate credits.

Christa C. Dunlap, 31, a senior in child development, said she has studied the children at the lab compared with students at commercial day-care centers.

“The creativity of these children is much more enhanced than it might be somewhere else,” Dunlap said. “We always have new college students with fresh ideas and some of the best and newest material for the children.”

An example is the High/Scope Program recently incorporated into the full-time bungalow by lead teacher Sharon Eyrich, who just completed her master’s degree in educational psychology with an emphasis in early child development. Eyrich was trained for the program as part of an educational fellowship from the U. S. State Department.

The program earned its name because it is high in quality and broad in scope. While the theories surrounding the High/Scope Program are extensive, its principles are simple: Allow children to play with whatever activity they are interested in and teach them age-appropriate curricula within the scope of that activity.

“For instance, if Sally wants to play with a board game, I can explain to her that the squares on the board are red and green,” said Eyrich, 29. “Then when she rolls the dice and gets a five, I can hold up five fingers and ask her to count off the squares as she moves her game piece.”

The child learns how to identify colors and count without being restricted to a specific flash-card lesson, Eyrich said. The traditional way of teaching preschool children is to develop a structured group activity.

Many times, preschool teachers have trouble with this method because children do not have the attention span to sit in a group and learn, she said. As a result, children can be turned off toward learning at a young age. The High/Scope Program is designed to make learning natural and fun, she said.

“Naturally, this enhances their curiosity and creativity, which is the most important thing for children of this age,” Eyrich said. “Too much regimented programming can burn a child this young out before they even get into kindergarten.”

Eyrich said the preschool lab is having so much success with the High/Scope Program that she has been asked by representatives of the State Department to train other preschool teachers in the Valley.

“We know the kids and we know what they love to do,” she said. “This way, we’re just incorporating the learning process into those activities.”

Liza Injo, 23, who is working on her master’s degree in child development, spends nearly 10 hours a week at the preschool lab. She said the High/Scope Program is just one of many new ideas that the children benefit from.

“It’s easy to see that we love what we’re doing,” Injo said as she helped four students make tuna sandwiches. “We’re thrilled to be learning this way, from first-hand experience. Everyone here is so enthusiastic it’s contagious.”

The CSUN Preschool Laboratory, 18330 Halsted Ave., Northridge, costs $440 a month for full-time care from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., including lunch and snacks. Two part-time options, based on a 15-week semester schedule, are available: five two-hour weekly afternoon sessions for $632 or three two-hour morning sessions for $423. Call (818) 885-3131.